For Edward Johnson Argyle things seemed not to get better but worst. Of course he had friends with whom he hung out with after school and argued with about which was the best rock band in the history of rock and roll. The typical things you do with your friends but deep inside him he wanted something more. None of his friends could provide for him what he needed. He needed someone to talk to and go out with on weekends. Someone to spend time with and talk to on the phone for hours and hours till her parents or his broke their choke hold on the phone. He wanted someone to take walks with. He wanted to feel needed. He needed someone he could trust and come to in his time of need. Unfortunately Edward was convinced that in this world there was no one like that for him. It frustrated him. He needed to fill in the void that he had deep within his heart. What he needed was a girl friend. It’s a risky endeavor and an action packed adventure in its own. His efforts were all in vain. They either left him disappointed or ended in dead ends. He started his search with those girls that he thought would be interested in him. Every time his seeking of answer left him feeling alone as the girls expressed no interest in him. Despite all the obstacles and rainy days ahead of him on his quest he had no intention of giving up just yet although his enthusiasm was fading and fast. As time went on his spirit had been broken many times but that is the miracle of our human nature. We always come out on top completely healed. The heart is a very resilient thing that takes a beating and still keeps on beating (no pun intended). At that point school was starting to become more like a 4-year sentence with 1 more year left to go till his release date. It seemed like a very long time. Edward had halted his search but only temporarily as he sorted everything within himself in their proper place. He came out new, reborn with new found hope and glory! Like the phoenix rising from the ashes of it’s fire! It was incredible how his attitude and his happiness skyrocketed. Suddenly getting a girl friend did not seem important to him. He had his life to live and he wasn’t getting any younger. Everything was fine and dandy but things have a way of surprising you with something unexpected. Life has a way of going in a different direction when you are not looking! This time his life went in the direction he had pictured himself going. Finally his daydreams in math class and late afternoon naps in English class were coming true and it all started with a day. Edward had no idea that his life was going to change that morning. He got out of bed at the usual time of 6:10. He got ready for school and ate a quick breakfast of orange juice, Pizza, and grilled cheese. He packed up his books in his bag that his mother had brought him a couple of months back and left for school. On his way there he stopped by a newsstand where they sold just about anything you would need on a quick trip. They sold snacks magazines, drinks, energy pills, lottery tickets and anything you wanted. If you didn’t see anything you wanted all you had to do was ask for it. In Edward’s case he needed a pack of gum to chew. It only cost him twenty-five cents. He waited for the light to change and just like that light which changes constantly and swiftly his life was about to change only he didn’t know it just yet! School went by as usual. The same routine of getting to class sitting down and doing or copying whatever was written on the board. The hardest part was anticipating the bell that signaled the end of class and the beginning of a new one. Lunchtime came and Edward knew where he was going to go. He had no other choice so he prepared himself for another day at the library. The library was his only choice because the cafeteria was like a circus and he was just the audience forced to sit there and listen and watch the spectacle. The kids in the cafeteria might as well have been animals. Some of them could have been in elementary school, as they didn’t know how to behave. Sometimes Edward would be caught in the middle of all the nonsense going on there. It was a waste of a period so Edward chose to spend it productively in the library. He sat there quietly as he waited for his friend to arrive. She was running a little late so she came in ten minutes after the time she usually comes into the library. She sat down across from him on the table. They talked about how school was and what grades they were expecting. We talked in a perfunctory manner so we would not remember what it felt like to be bored Twenty-five minutes into the period a young lady walks in! He spotted her and only gave her a quick glance and turned back to give his attention to the conversation at hand and suddenly he turned back to her as if she had pulled some ropes tied to his head towards her. Edward told himself “whoa! I have to meet her! But how…” He thought to himself that she was the girl he wanted and suddenly his quest was renewed right on the spot. She had captivated him. As she walked across the library all he could do was watch her with his eyes just moving towards his table. He was stupefied so he really did not notice that she was making her way silently with her hands tucked at her sides over to his table. Edward started rambling to himself how it would be great to have her in his life. She seemed like the girl he wanted. He didn’t even know anything about her! He had only seen her for a couple a minutes! He did not even know her name! She had come over to his table before he had finished his little private conversation with himself. Apparently she knew his friend and sat down right next to him. She stayed there for the rest of the period. During that time Edward introduced himself to her and found out a little more about her as she did of him. As he found out more about her he knew that she was the one for him! He now knew her name! And what a sweet sounding names it was to Edward. Her name was Marisol Chrysanthemum. She smelled as sweet as the flowers she was named after! Finally Edward had found what he had been so desperately searching for just a couple months before. It was almost time to leave and as she was leaving Edward quickly jumped up with a question! He asked her if she had any plans for the weekend and she said that she didn’t! Immediately as if it was a response that he was programmed to say upon hearing anything he asked if she wanted to go ice-skating with him. He was expecting her to say no and to break the news to him that she already had a boyfriend. However she didn’t! And even if she did it would have been no surprise to him. Girls like Marisol are rare. They are beauties that you don’t see everyday. Guys would take them up pretty quick like piranhas to a calf that has had the misfortune of falling in the deep part of the river. He was surprised! But wait! There was one more thing. How would he contact her? He asked for her phone number and also asked what time he could call. They agreed on the time. So the period ended and suddenly Edward had something to look forward to! He could not sit still in his classes! After school he walked home slower than usual and he took his time getting there. His favorite smell became that of freshly cut grass. He called her at the time that they had agreed but she wasn’t home to receive his call. Old Edward was not discouraged. He figured he would call the next day just before they were supposed to go ice-skating. Just as he said he was going to call he called. Yes she was home! And they talked and planned out their little Saturday outing to the ice skating rink. It all worked out well. When they were all strapped in ready to skate he realized that she wasn’t that good of an ice skater so he offered to hold her hand so she wouldn’t fall. It was genuinely something made in gods workshop. No doubt that day went in Edwards trophy case to show off to the entire world of what a great girl he had stumbled onto just when he thought she didn’t exist. Life certainly came around and surprised him the way life usually does. They held hands and talked as they skated. It was great. After they were fed up with skating they went and sat down. They talked some more about themselves and as Edward opened himself up to her and she opened up to him they both realized that there was the potential for something special between them. Edward knew this and Marisol was apparently just waiting there for him to say that which she wanted to hear at that moment. The rest is history. Edward came home like so many other times except that he now had a girl friend! She was his sanctuary as he could go to her and she would make him feel a little bit better and safe. Their time together was great. No price could be placed on it. As each day passed things only seemed to get better. He was having the time of his life. For once in his life Edward was happy and satisfied. Nothing else really mattered. She was honest and respectable. She was pretty and had many things that made her a great girl and what a girl she was. She would worry for him sometimes but Edward liked it. All he needed now was diapers and a bottle. What a big baby huh? I guess all he could say was serenity. She had gotten him way up high in the clouds but as the saying goes whatever goes up must eventually come down and the higher you are the harder you fall. After almost two months of happiness Edwards world came tumbling down. His relationship with Marisol had been severed. He had been dumped! Life had screwed him over the way it does when you are not looking. It really hurt him. His affliction had been Marisol and the hurt was intense and he felt it every time his heart beat. It took some time for him to heal but some things were still not right. He had been given ample time to recognize what he was doing wrong and what he needed to do but he chose to ignore those warnings He tried to correct them but he was not able to and besides it was too late. There was no way to correct them. Eventually he realized that he was crusading for a lost cause. He had gotten that notion from an outside observer who observed what was going on and threw the thought in as an option. He moved on but he never was the same ever again. How could someone so sweet and caring bring him so much pain? Truth is that it is better to have known what it feels like to have a great girl in your life than not knowing what having a great girl feels like. She was a free soul like that of a bird. She was going to leave eventually. It hurt Edward so much but guys have a funny way of pretending nothing is wrong when deep inside they are crying in all their sorrow. There was nothing he could do to change her mind and Edward finally came to terms with it and that fact that she would never be a part of his life ever again not even as his friend. It was sad to know that she would not be an integral part of his life any longer, as he needed her to function well. Nothing hurt more than that but he managed and now he is unstoppable riding the crest of a wave of high self-esteem and confidence that came from deep within his heart. Now his relationship with marisol is only a fixation that he had had back in his past when he was full of feelings of complacence, the time were he was really satisfied. He was indeed satisfied and definitely not vulnerable to another ball of chaos. His vulnerability was a thing of the past.